A Tectonic History of the Earth provides a comprehensive exploration of the dynamic geological forces that have shaped our planet over the past 4,500 million years. At least four supercontinents have formed and subsequently dispersed during this time, each leaving a lasting imprint on the planet’s structure.

Written for Earth science scholars and students, this book recounts the history of the tectonic and magmatic events that accompanied these changes in crustal architecture, and explains how they may be integrated into the world-wide system of convection currents responsible for the transfer of heat from the interior of the Earth to its periphery. The author also discusses how these processes may be connected to significant environmental events such as ice ages and mass extinctions, illustrating how Earth’s geology and its environment are intricately linked. Through a study of past tectonic patterns and their environmental consequences, certain predictions can be offered into Earth’s potential future.

Graham Park is Emeritus Professor of Tectonic Geology at the University of Keele and has published numerous books and research papers on tectonic geology. He is the author of the best-selling Introducing Geology: A Guide to the World of Rocks, and the award-winning Mountains: The Origins of the Earth’s Mountain Systems.

'I strongly recommend this book for all engaged in tectonics research, from the newly minted graduate student to the most wrinkled professor. [...] it provides the foundational knowledge that would underpin many future research topics in tectonic processes and provides a global context for those working on more focused topics within specific orogenic belts. Thus, this book would be a valuable starting point for virtually any subject that the researcher would want to explore. [...] A remarkable achievement. The author has displayed an unparalleled command of a vast, indeed bottomless, literature and has been able to distil the most prescient information into a format that will reach all whose field of research falls under the broad umbrella of tectonics. It will be the first book I pull from my shelf when I want to know about a particular orogenic belt and how it fits into a bigger picture. From a personal point of view, I retired from teaching 5 years ago, with no burning desire to resume. But if I were to rekindle that passion, I would want to teach a graduate course based on this book.'
J. Brendan Murphy, Geoscience Canada

'A Tectonic History of the Earth achieves something deceptively difficult: it presents 4.5 billion years of planetary evolution as a coherent, process-driven narrative rather than a catalogue of events. [...] Among recent tectonics texts, this volume occupies valuable pedagogical space: more historically comprehensive than Kent Condie’s Earth as an Evolving Planetary System and more process-focused than regional syntheses. Its greatest virtue is demonstrating, through careful accumulation of evidence and argument, how geologists think about a planet that leaves only fragmentary records of its own transformation.'
Gaurav Kumar, Geoscientist

Graham Park is Emeritus Professor of Tectonic Geology at the University of Keele, and author of numerous books and research papers on tectonic geology and the Precambrian.